:printed  from  the  Proceedings  of  the  National  Educational  Association,  1901] 


UNIVERSITY  of  ILLINOIS, 


LlijliAKf 

OP  the 


THE  EDUCATIONAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND 

CLOUDESLEY  S.  H.  BRERETON,  MELTON  CONSTABLE,  ENGLAND 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

My  first  duty  must  be  — and  it  is  a very  pleasant  duty  — to  thank  you 
most  heartily  for  the  great  honor  you  have  conferred  upon  me  in  asking  me 


over  to  America  to  lecture  to  you  on  English  education.  I little  thought  a 


year  ago,  when  I had  the  privilege  of  studying  and  appraising  your  excel- 
lent educational  section  at  the  Paris  Exhibition,  I should  so  soon  have  the 


opportunity  of  seeing  on  the  spot  the  actual  working  of  your  schools  and 


of  meeting  face  to  face  the  pick  and  flower  of  those  whoiiave  built  up,  or 
are  building  up,  this  magnificent  and  unparalleled  system  of  national 
education.  The  most  casual  observer  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  by  the 
intense  and  fervent  belief  of  American  democracy  in  its  schools,  which  is 
only  to  be  matched  by  the  fervent  belfef  of  the  schools  in  American 


democracy.  Such  a happy  conjunction  between  the  two  seems  fraught 
with  limitless  possibilities.  Every  year  the  schools  grow  richer  as  more 
money  and  thought  are  poured  into  them.  Every  year  they  turn  out  a 
higher  and  more  efficient  type  of  citizens,  ready,  when  their  time  of  giving 
comes,  to  give  as  freely  as  they  themselves  have  received.  Believe  me, 
deeply  as  I value  the  honor  of  being  invited  over  here  to  speak  on  the 
problems  of  English  education,  I am  still  more  grateful  to  you  for  giving 
me  the  chance  of  gaining  some  insight  into  your  own. 

No  doubt,  in  part,  some  of  this  immense  and  rapid  progress  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  you  were  able  to  begin,  so  to  say,  at  the  beginning,  untram- 
meled by  the  excessive  top  hamper  with  which  all  countries  of  an  older 
civilization  are  encumbered.  I do  not  know  how  often,  in  seeing  the  ease 
and  rapidity  with  which  you  have  solved,  or  are  solving,  the  various 
educational  problems  which  confront  you,  I have  experienced  a regret 
that  the  age  of  miracles  is  past  and  that  we,  as  a nation,  cannot  be 
re-created  and  born  again,  so  that  we  too  might  start  with  a blank  sheet, 
or  tabula  rasa  so  to  say,  on  which  we  might  erect  a brand-new  system  of 
national  education.  And  yet  a moment’s  reflection  has  always  convinced 
me  that  even  the  worst  and  most  antiquated  of  our  traditions,  by  which 
we  are  at  times  so  sore  let  and  hindered,  are  not  without  their  uses.  In 
fact,  the  problem  is  to  modify  rather  than  to  abolish  them.  The  curious 
habits  and  customs,  the  various  modes  of  belief,  the  conception  and  ways 
of  looking  at  things  which  have  impressed  themselves  so  strorgly  on 
English  education,  are  not  mere  scaffolding  by  which  we  have  been  able 
to  raise  up,  tier  by  tier,  the  mighty  structure  of  national  life,  but  are  verily 
and  indeed  part  and  parcel  of?/that  structure,  reaching  down  and  extend- 
ing to  its  very  foundation  and  base,  so  that  their  complete  removal,  if  it 

151 


152  NATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  ^ [General 

x;  ~ 

were  possible,  would  be  a distinct  loss  of  certain  elemental  things  essen- 
tially national,  and  their  radical  excision  would  be  a mutilation  of  part 
of  those  forces  which  make  the  English  body  politic  what  it  is,  and  not 
something  else. 

If  you  agree  with  this  view,  I think  you  will  readily  admit  that  national 
education  is  not,  as  the  mechanical-minded  theorist!  of  the  eighteenth 
century  imagined,  a sort  of  machine  you  could  clap  on  to  this  or  that 
nation,  whether  English  or  French,  European  or  Asiatic,  in  the  sure  and 
certain  expectation  of  turning  out  exactly  the  same  finished  article,  true 
in  every  detail  to  pattern  and  specification,  a kind  of  education  made 
automaton,  a great  monstrosity,  if  it  really  existed,  like  that  other  figment 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  economic  man,  so  dear  to  early  writers  of 
political  economy.  If  the  spirit  of  the  nineteenth  century,  which  has  just 
passed  away,  had  one  message  for  us,  it  was  to  substitute  for  this  mechan- 
ical theory  that  of  evolution  ; to  dethrone  the  belief  in  cataclysms  and 
sudden  changes,  in  favor  of  the  view  of  sure  but  certain  processes;  to  restate 
the  problem  of  progress  in  terms  of  living  growth  instead  of  artificial 
manufacture.  It  denied  that  the  child  is  a mere  lump  of  clay  to  be  puddled 
and  molded  into  some  conventional  type,  as  tho,  forsooth,  the  Lord  God 
had  not  already  breathed  into  it  a soul  and  a personality.  On  the  con- 
trary, it  asserted  that  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  the  teacher  to  respect  the 
child’s  individuality  — a practice  which  you,  to  your  eternal  honor,  have 
more  than  any  other  nation  held  to  and  maintained.  It  no  less  vigorously 
affirmed  that  it  is  the  bounden  duty  of  the  statesman,  in  whatever  reform 
he  may  undertake,  to  respect  the  genius  and  individuality  of  his  nation. 

For  nations,  as  I consider  them,  are  not  mere  undisciplined  aggregates 
of  competing  individuals,  but  organized  social  wholes,  to  whom  national 
education  bears  the  same  relationship  as  the  flower  to  the  parent  plant. 
If  I had  to  give  a definition  of  national  education,  I would  define  it  as 
the  outcome,  half  conscious,  half  unconscious,  of  the  desire  of  the  more 
thoughtful  members  of  a nation  to  hand  down  to  the  rising  generation 
the  experience,  ethical,  intellectual,  and  practical,  of  the  race,  in  order  that 
they  may  continue  to  develop  the  nation  on  its  own  line,  and  realize  more 
fully  and  perfectly  the  ideals,  whether  existing  or  naissant,  in  their  own  hearts. 

They  desire,  it  is  true,  to  render  their  sons  more  efficient  for  the  battle 
of  life,  yet,  knowing  that  man  cannot  live  by  bread  alone,  they  are  anxious 
to  see  instilled  into  those  that  come  after  them  those  moral  standards  and 
aims  which  they  believe  to  be  the  most  precious  heritage  they  have 
received  from  their  forefathers;  which  form,  so  to  say,  the  very  bed  rock 
of  national  character  and  temperament,  and  enable  a nation  on  the  morrow 
of  some  crushing  reverse  or  defeat  to  pull  itself  together  and  go  on.  In 
a word,  the  school  should  be  the  microcosm  of  all  that  is  best  in  the 
national  life  and  ideals,  and  its  further  progress  largely  depends  on  its 
becoming  more  and  more  the  mirror  of  these  high  hopes  and  aspirations. 

But  perhaps  someone  will  say  : This  theory  may  square  very  well  with 


iAP‘02\\..c*  - .'-vw  'fe j^s-xXjCx. 


SessionsJ 


EDUCATIONAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND 


1 53 


European  conditions,  but  our  American  schools  are  none  the  less  one  of 
the  most  efficient  machines  the  world  has  ever  known  for. converting  into 
American  citizens  the  countless  children  of  the  strangers  that  are  within 
our  gates.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  American  schools  do  literally  help  to 
transform  the  child  of  the  newcomer  into  an  American  citizen,  and  it  is 
indeed  one  of  the  chief  glories  of  the  American  schools  that  they  are  able 
to  effect  such  a conversion  as  deep  and  thoro  as  any  other  conversion, 
religious  or  otherwise. 

But  such  a fact  is  not  against  my  theory.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  a 
striking  proof  of  how  a nation  is  really  a social  whole,  which  demands,  in 
the  name  of  national  unity,  the  assimilation  of  the  individual  of  the 
national  type.  It  emphasizes  the  vigor  and  genius  of  the  American 
national  character  that  it  is  able  so  thoroly  to  leaven,  permeate,  and  trans- 
form these  foreign  elements.  It  illustrates  incidentally  the  fact  that 
American  education  must  proceed  along  the  lines  of  American  ideals, 
which  is  only  what  I have  been  urging  in  reference  to  England. 

But  I would  not  have  you  think  for  a moment  that  I wish  to  see  a 
Chinese  wall  thrown  around  a nation  or  a nation’s  schools,  in  order  to 
shut  out  and  exclude  all  foreign  influences.  On  the  contrary,  I am  most 
anxious  that  in  education,  as  in  commerce,  we  should  maintain  the  policy 
of  the  open  door.  Never  in  the  history  of  the  world,  as  far  as  one  can 
judge,  have  the  nations,  and  especially  the  English  nation,  been  under  a 
deeper  obligation  than  at  present  to  learn  and  copy  from  one  another  what 
is  best.  Besides,  education  in  its  highest  sense  is  the  raising  and  uplift- 
ing, not  only  of  each  of  the  several  nations,  but  of  all  humanity;  as  such 
it  cannot  be  shut  up  in  water-tight  compartments  or  separated  by  impass- 
able boundaries.  What  I do  contend  for  is  this,  that  we  cannot  profit- 
ably copy  the  methods  of  other  countries  till  we  have  got  a clear  idea  of 
the  condition  and  genesis  of  our  own  education.  In  other  words,  we 
must  first  be  able  to  state  the  problem  and  appreciate  its  main  factors 
before  we  can  say  whether  this  or  that  solution,  however  excellent  it  may 
be  on  abstract  lines,  however  well  it  has  worked  in  other  countries,  is 
really  applicable  in  our  case. 

But  this  seems  to  me  to  be  the  place  to  mention  another  factor  which 
appears  to  me  second  in  importance  only  to  that  of  national  character  in 
considering  the  problem  of  national  education.  Nations  are  not  only 
divided  by  what  they  have  inherited  from  the  past ; they  are  also  differ- 
entiated by  the  diversity  of  their  destinies.  To  understand  the  problem 
of  national  education  we  must  not  only  ask  from  what  the  nation  has 
come,  we  must  also  inquire  whither  it  is  going.  For  the  school  is  not 
only  the  trustee  of  the  past ; it  must  also  take  thought  for  the  future. 
Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  problems  with  which  every  nation  has 
to  deal  tend  to  group  themselves  around  some  central  problem,  which, 
in  its  turn,  gives  its  own  particular  hue  and  color  to  the  others.  Let  me 


y 10^*5 


i54 


NATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 


[General 


come  at  once  to  concrete  instances  to  show  what  I mean.  Anyone  con- 
versant with  French  life  will,  I believe,  readily  admit  that  the  funda- 
mental problem  in  France  is  the  religious  problem.  In  fact,  you  cannot 
scratch,  or  even  touch,  the  surface  of  any  other  problem  without  at  once 
coming  in  contact  with  some  of  its  seemingly  endless  ramifications.  In 
Germany  it  will  probably  be  readily  admitted  that  the  central  problem 
is  the  reconstruction  of  society.  Here  in  America,  if  a passing  visitor 
» may  venture  on  an  opinion,  the  problem  with  which  you  have  to  deal  is 
that  of  the  adjustment  of  the  relation  of  capital  and  labor;  while  in  Eng- 
land, it  seems  to  me,  the  coming  problem,  if  it  has  not  come  already,  is 
that  of  imperialism.  One  might  almost  think  it  was  a sort  of  divine  dis- 
pensation that  each  of  the  chief  civilizing  states  of  the  world  is  set  down, 
as  it  were,  to  work  out  its  own  salvation  on  different  lines,  so  that  the 
other  nations,  if  it  succeeds,  may  enter  into  its  labors;  for  no  nation 
liveth  unto  itself  alone,  but  to  the  benefit,  in  the  end,  of  humanity. 

The  bottom  problem,  I repeat,  in  England  is  imperialism.  To  pre- 
vent  any  possible  misunderstanding,  let  me  attempt  to  state  what  I mean 
by  the  term.  Of  course,  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  that  militant  spirit  of 
spread  eagleism  we  call  jingoism  ; it  is  not  mere  flag-waving  or  any  other 
form  of  human  cockadoodleism ; it  is  not  land-grabbing ; it  is  not  the 
insane  wish  to  paint  as  much  as  possible  of  the  map  of  the  world  red,  or 
whatever  the  national  color  may  be.  On  the  other  hand,  it  seems  to  me 
stupid,  if  not  criminal,  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  our  empire,  even 
if  we  do  not  add  another  rod  to  it  for  fifty  years,  is  already  enormous. 

Speaking  roughly,  we,  a nation  of  bare  forty  million  souls,  are  respon- 
sible to  Almighty  God  for  the  lives,  fortunes,  and  happiness  of  some 
four  billions.  Are  we,  like  unworthy  servants,  unmindful  of  our  high 
responsibilities,  going  to  hide  our  talents  in  a napkin  and  do  nothing, 
or  are  we  going  to  attempt  to  take  up  as  best  we  may  the  “white  man’s 
burden”  ? To  me  it  seems  there  is  but  one  alternative.  If  we  are  not  to 
share  in  the  fate  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  Macedonia  and  Rome,  we  must  do 
our  duty  toward  this  great  empire,  not  running  it  for  our  own  selfish 
profit  and  pleasure,  but  for  the  welfare  of  all  that  are  in  it.  Otherwise  our 
fate  is  certain,  be  it  long  or  short  in  coming.  I feel  in  this  matter  we 
have  your  sympathy.  To  you,  too,  the  call  of  empire  has  come,  and,  after 
long  counting  the  cost,  you,  too,  have  put  your  hand  to  the  plow,  and, 
having  put  it,  show  little  sign  of  turning  back  or  of  refusing  to  accept  the 
greatness  thus  thrust  upon  you.  But  we  cannot  do  our  duty  to  others 
until  we  have  done  our  duty  to  ourselves.  If  we  are  to  run  the  empire 
as  we  should,  we  must  put  things  on  a far  more  efficient  basis  at  home, 
not  only  in  the  way  of  social  and  economic  reform  (of  political  we  have 
had  enough  and  to  spare),  but  also  in  education. 

Now,  English  education  is  at  present  in  a chaotic  state.  In  some 
places  there  is  overlapping  and  friction  between  competing  schools  and 


Sessions] 


E D UCA  T/ONA  L CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND 


155 


conflicting  local  authorities ; in  others  the  educational  supply  is  miser- 
ably deficient.  What  is  wanted  at  the  present  time  is  organization  and 
co-ordination,  not  indeed  uniformity,  but  unity,  or  at  least  harmonious 
working,  between  the  different  educational  agencies.  This  cry  for  unity 
that  is  voiced  by  so  many  is,  however,  no  new  thing.  It  has  been  raised 
again  and  again,  yet  hitherto  has  always  met  with  failure.  • The  causes  of 
this  failure  lie  deep.  They  can  be  disclosed  only  by  an  inquiry  into  the 
reasons  in  the  history  of  English  education  that  have  led  to  the  present 
complicated  position.  I shall,  therefore,  attempt  to  give  you,  in  a rough 
and  ready  fashion,  some  insight  into  historical  causes,  and,  dividing  the 
problem  into  two  parts,  deal  first  with  the  local  and  then  with  the  central 
authorities. 

The  beginnings  of  English  education  were  religious.  The  ethical 
bias  in  English  education  must  never  be  lost  sight  of  when  any  estimate 
of  the  problem  is  made.  The  Reformation  only  transferred  the  school 
from  the  church  to  the  king,  not  as  the  head  of  the  state,  but  as  the  tem- 
poral head  of  the  church.  This,  of  course,  only  applies  to  the  secondary 
schools. 

The  seventeenth  century  was  a blank  as  far  as  education  of  the  work- 
ing classes  was  concerned.  At  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century  we  find  Sir  Richard  Steele  pleading  in  the  Tatler  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  poor.  His,  cry  did  not  fall  on  deaf  ears,  and  produced  a 
movement  within  the  established  church  which  led  to  the  foundation  of 
the  so-called  charity  schools  (under  the  auspices  of  the  Society  for  Chris- 
tian Knowledge).  These  schools  at  first  grew,  and  increased,  and  at  one 
time  contained  as  many  as  twenty-six  thousand  children.  But  opposi- 
tion soon  appeared;  on  one  hand  they  were  attacked  by  those  who  com- 
plained of  their  superficiality;  on  the  other,  by  those  who  asserted  that 
it  made  the  poor  discontented  with  their  station  in  life.  There  was  no 
idea  of  seeking  the  help  or  assistance  of  the  state.  The  great  English 
radical,  Priestley,  who  had  inherited  the  laissez-faire  traditions  of  1648, 
was  dead  against  the  notion.  It  is  not  until  we  come  to  Adam  Smith 
that  we  find  the  idea  of  a state  system  of  primary  education  mooted. 
He  had  been  influenced  by  the  ideas  of  Turgot  and  the  working  of  the 
Scottish  system  ; unhappily  for  the  future  of  secondary  education,  he  was 
utterly  opposed  to  state  aid  or  intervention  in  the  sphere  of  higher 
education,  looking  on  it  as  likely  to  lead  to  intellectual  tyranny. 

So  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  there  were  two  tend- 
encies in  education,  one  laying  stress  on  the  ethical,  the  other  on  the 
intellectual  side ; the  former  represented  by  the  now  languishing 
charity  schools,  which  were  suffering  frorsj  the  attacks  of  the  obscurantist 
faction  in  the  church,  who  disbelieved  in  education  for  the  working 
classes  ; the  other,  by  the  philosophical  radicals,  who  were  advocates  of 
the  state  system  of  primary  education,  but  encountered  opposition  from 


156 


NATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 


[General 


extremists  of  the  Priestley  school.  The  first  attempt  to  establish  a national 
system  of  primary  education  was  made  as  far  back  as  1806,  by  the  cele- 
brated Quaker,  Mr.  Whitehead.  He  attempted  to  conciliate  the  clerical 
party,  but  failed  to  overcome  the  opposition  of  the  obscurantists.  But 
the  problem  itself  became  more  acute.  -During  the  Napoleonic  war  we 
were  passing  from  being  a rural  to  an  urban  people.  The  industrial 
revolution  was  at  its  height,  the  slums  were  growing  at  an  alarming  rate, 
our  working  classes  were  half-starved  thru  the  high  price  of  corn,  and 
the  horrors  of  child  labor  grew  and  intensified.  State  aid  having  failed, 
the  philanthropist  stepped  into  the  breach.  Robert  Raikes  in  1810 
started  the  Sunday  schools.  The  numbers  in  these  schools  rose  rapidly 
to  half  a million,  but  after  1810  they  devoted  themselves  to  the  Sunday 
side  of  the  work.  Then  the  Royal  Lancastrian  Society  was  founded  to 
extend  the  monitorial  system  of  one  Joseph  Lancaster,  a Quaker,  and 
became  in  due  course  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society.  Its 
methods  were  crude  ; knowledge  was  looked  on  as  a sort  of  liquid  that 
naturally  found  its  own  level  in  the  pupil,  who  acted  as  a sort  of  tank  or 
receptacle  thru  the  monitor,  who  was  regarded  as  the  pipe  or  conduit, 
and  therefore  did  not  require  to  know  more  than  the  pupil,  being  what 
we  should  call,  in  theological  language,  a sort  of  unconscious  channel 
of  grace.  These  schools  were,  nevertheless,  highly  favored  and  supported 
by  Bentham,  the  elder  Mill,  Francis  Plaice,  and  other  radical  reformers 
of  the  time. 

The  activity  of  the  non-sectarian  British  and  Foreign  School  Society 
naturally  awoke  the  slumbering  energies  of  the  other  party,  and  a rival 
society,  called  the  National  Society,  was  started  by  churchmen.  People 
looked  complacently  on  the  rivalry  of  the  two  societies  as  a kind  of 
sporting  affair,  hoping  that  the  better  would  win  — a spirit,  I fancy,  not 
altogether  unknown  in  America.  Unfortunately  the  two  societies  did 
not  cover  anything  like  the  whole  ground.  In  1820  Brougham  pointed 
out  that  out  of  twelve  thousand  parishes  only  five  thousand  had  any 
sort  of  school  at  all,  and  many  of  those  were  little  better  than  dame 
schools.  He  himself  tackled  the  problem  of  state  education,  but  failed, 
thru  the  impossibility  of  finding  a via  media  between  the  church,  the 
church  people,  and  the  laissez-faire  nonconformists.  Meanwhile  the 
British  and  Foreign  Schools  were  not  fulfilling  the  expectations  they 
had  raised.  As  we  have  seen,  their  conception  of  the  child  was  all 
wrong,  and  they  confounded  education  with  instruction,  in  thinking  they 
could  solve  the  social  problem  by  teaching  a little  spelling  and  the 
multiplication  table. 

From  the  passing  of  the  Reform  Bill  till  1870  the  middle  classes  were 
having  a good  time  in  England,  as  good  as  the  middle  classes  in 
America  today.  Trade  was  going  up  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Everyone 
was  feeling  yearly  a little  richer.  It  was  an  epoch  of  intellectual  output. 


Sessions] 


EDUCATIONAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND 


J57 


Tennyson,  Dickens,  and  George  Eliot  were  in  their  prime.  There  was 
very  little  dwelling  on  difficult  or  ultimate  questions.  A superficial 
optimism,  of  which  Macaulay  was  often  the  mouthpiece,  was  the  fashion. 
There  was  a general  feeling  that  things  would  work  themselves  out  all 
right.  It  was  the  golden  age  of  laissez  faire.  So  much  for  the  articulate 
classes,  but  the  actual  life  of  the  inarticulate  classes  was  far  different,  and 
we  were  really  sowing  the  seeds  of  the  numerous  social  and  economic 
problems  that  of  late  have  sprung  up  around  us  like  magic,  and  are 
clamoring  simultaneously  for  solution. 

The  year  1832  is  memorable  as  the  first  instance  of  state  aid  in  the 
history  of  national  education,  when  a building  grant  of  ^20,000  was 
given  to  the  two  societies.  In  1835  a royal  commission  was  appointed, 
which  revealed  the  educational  nakedness  of  the  land.  Once  more  an 
attempt  was  made  to  establish  a national  .'system  of  education  ; this  time 
on  undenominational  lines.  It  failed  before  the  opposition  of  the  church. 
A further  attempt  to  secure  education  for  factory  children  was  unsuccess- 
ful, this  time  the  opposition  coming  from  the  party  opposed  to  state 
intervention,  John  Bright  and  Baines.  At  last  a via  media  was  found. 
In  1846  the  government  adopted  the  system  of  subsidizing  the  denomi- 
national schools.  During  the  fifties  we  see  the  beginnings  of  the  ideas  of 
local  control  in  the  schools,  and  the  birth  of  two  great  questions — one, 
whether  education  should  be  a branch  of  municipal  and  local  govern- 
ment, or  intrusted  to  a special  ad  hoc  body;  and  the  other,  the  still 
thornier  one  of  aiding  denominational  schools  out  of  the  rates.  Mean- 
* while  the  reforms  introduced  by  Arnold  at  Rugby  had  extended  to  other 
schools,  and  made  our  public  schools  what  they  are  today,  the  nurseries 
of  public  spirit  and  esprit  de  corps. 

The  electoral  reform  of  1868,  and  the  sweeping  Liberal  majorities 
that  followed,  tended  much  to  weaken  the  dislike  of  the  laissez  faire 
radicals  to  the  state,  with  which  they  began  to  identify  themselves  more 
and  more.  This  reduced  the  four  opposing  currents  of  thought  to  three, 
and  opened  the  way  for  Mr.  John  Forster  and  his  celebrated  education 
bill  of  1870.  Three  points  require  to  be  very  strongly  noted  as  regards 
this  act.  One,  that  the  elected  school  boards  were  avowedly  only  to  be 
created  in  districts  where  the  educational  supply  was  lacking;  they  were 
merely  intended  to  fill  up  the  gaps  in  the  then  existing  system  of  volun- 
tary education.  While,  to  afford  the  voluntary  schools  a last  chance  of 
covering  the  ground,  a year’s  grace  was  given  under  the  bill,  during 
which  they  were  to  be  allowed  to  attempt  to  build  as  many  schools  as 
possible.  They  made  such  good  use  of  the  opportunity  that  they  raised 
some  three  million  pounds  for  school  buildings.  When  the  year  was  up, 
and  the  competition  began,  they  had_  already  received  an  immense  start, 
and  tho  the  school  boards  have  since  made  enormous  progress,  the  majority 
of  elementary  children  are  still  in  denominational  schools.  The  second 


58 


NATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 


[General 


point  to’  note  is  that  the  government  grant  to  these  schools  has  steadily 
increased,  so  that  today  these  so-called  voluntary  schools  receive  the 
equivalent  of  four-fifths  of  their  expenditure,  and  in  some  cases  still 
more,  out  of  the  public  fund ; yet,  except  as  regards  examination  and 
inspection,  they  are  quite  outside  the  sphere  of  popular  control.  The 
third  point  to  note  is  that  the  first  draft  of  Mr.  Forster’s  bill  proposed 
to  make  the  existing  municipal  councils  the  local  school  authorities  for 
the  towns.  But,  as  some  of  the  radicals  objected  to  indirect  election, 
and  the  various  denominational  bodies  insisted  on  a representation  of  all 
parties  and  all  religions,  we  had  the  establishment  of  school  boards  in 
the  town,  which,  apart  from  the  religious  wrangling,  have  generally  done 
very  good  work,  and  the  establishment  of  the  little  district  boards  in  the 
country,  which  have  worked,  as  a rule,  very  indifferently.  As  there  is 
no  great  popular  feeling  in  favor  of  education  in  country  districts  com- 
parable to  that  in  America,  the  country  school  boards  have  been  mainly 
manned  by  persons  who  have  got  themselves  elected  for  the  purpose  of 
keeping  down  rates. 

Not  a few  persons  in  England  consider  it  unfortunate  for  the  cause  of 
popular  education  that  its  destinies  should  have  been  linked  at  the  start 
to  a form  of  local  government  which  was  rapidly  falling  into  discredit 
thru  the  rendering  the  life  of  the  English  ratepayer  a burden,  and 
hindering  the  growth  of  local  patriotism.  It  was  estimated  by  Mr.  (after 
Justice)  Smith  in  1876  that  some  unfortunate  householders  in  London 
were  living  under  the  government  of  something  like  fifteen  distinct  ad 
hoc  authorities,  being  in  one  area  for  the  school,  another  for  water, 
another  for  gas,  another  for  health,  another  for  registration  of  birth, 
another  for  burial  purposes,  etc.  The  reform  of  English  local  government 
was  taken  in  hand  in  1888,  when  the  old  county  area  was  chosen  as  the 
unit,  and  the  functions  of  the  majority  of  these  ad  hoc  bodies  were  merged 
in  the  new  authority.  Towns  of  over  sixty  thousand  inhabitants,  together 
with  a few  whose  population  was  under  this  figure,  were  eliminated  from 
the  county  and  made  co-equal  independent  bodies  under  the  title  of 
county  boroughs.  This  is  a most  important  point.  Had  the  present 
county  unit  existed  in  a democratic  shape  in  1870,  we  should  probably 
not  have  had  an  ad  hoc  body  chosen  to  supplement  merely  primary 
education,  but  the  county  unit  would  most  probably  have  been  adopted 
to  look  after  all  forms  of  education  in  its  area.  The  proof  of  this  asser- 
tion lies  in  the  fact  that  the  county  council  and  county  borough  council 
were  made  the  authority  for  technical  instruction  in  1889,  an(3  not  the 
school  board,  for  the  simple  reason  that  their  areas  were  co-extensive 
with  the  whole  country. 

There  being  little  or  no  technical  instruction  at  the  time,  the  county 
council  and  county  borough  council  soon  found  it  necessary  to  expend  a 
large  portion  of  the  grant  they  received  from  the  government  for  technical 


Sessions] 


EDUCATIONAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND 


159 


education  in  aiding  hundreds  of  secondary  schools  in  order  that  the 
pupils  might  be  better  prepared  to  enter  tbe  technical  schools  and  classes. 
They  have,  therefore,  become  de  facto  in  England  in  many  localities,  the 
local  authority  for  secondary  education.  Their  position  has  further  been 
strengthened  thru  the  government  grant  for  science  and  art  being  in  many 
places  also  paid  thru  their  hands. 

Meanwhile,  especially  in  the  towns,  school  boards  throve  and 
expanded  ; extra  standard  classes  were  soon  added  to  the  ordinary  classes 
in  the  three  R’s ; and  the  regular  superstructure  of  higher  grade  educa- 
tion evolved.  In  this  forward  policy  the  school  boards  were,  up  to  a 
recent  date,  encouraged  by  the  two  departments  intrusted  with  the  over- 
sight of  elementary  and  of  science  and  art  education.  Certain  of  the 
London  ratepayers,  however,  took  alarm  at  the  growing  expenditure  of 
the  London  board.  The  matter  was  brought  into  the  law  courts,  and  the 
whole  of  this  new  top  story  has  been  declared  illegal.  For  anyone  but 
an  obscurantist  in  education  the  question  is  whether  these  classes  should 
be  recognized  as  higher  primary,  as  in  France,  or  as  frankly  secondary. 
If  the  latter  alternative  is  adopted,  they  will  at  once  be  authorized  to 
enter  into  competition  with  the  existing  secondary  schools,  many  of  which 
are  under  the  tutelage  of  the  county  councils,  and  the  skirmishes  which 
have  hitherto  taken  place  between  the  two  rival  authorities  will  degenerate 
into  a battle  royal.  In  fact,  recognition  of  two  rival  authorities,  each 
possessing  equal  rights  to  give  the  same  grade  of  education,  can  only 
lend  itself  to  an  intolerable  amount  of  friction  and  overlapping,  and 
unnecessary  expense ; so  that  the  British  ratepayer  is  not  unlikely  to  strike. 
Unable  to  discriminate  between  the  two,  he  will  cry  “a  plague  on  both 
your  houses,”  and  the  cause  of  education  is  bound  to  suffer  in  the  end 
when  people  see  how  these  educationists  love  one  another.  Furthermore, 
the  present  muddle  is  intensified  by  the  overlapping  which  has  been 
going  on  in  the  evening  classes  for  adults;  between  the  classes  run  by 
the  county  councils  and  the  school  boards  in  the  town  when  they  have 
not  been  regulated  by  voluntary  concordats.  And,  finally,  we  have  before 
us  the  grave  question  of  whether  we  mean  to  crush  out  the  private  schools. 
There  should,  indeed,  be  short  shrift  for  the  inefficient ; but  the  private 
school  which  is  doing  its  work  seems  worthy  at  least  of  recognition,  if 
not  of  encouragement.  Both  in  France  and  Germany  there  are  distinct 
signs  of  regret  that  the  private  school,  which,  if  efficient,  is  always  a 
center  of  emulation  and  experiment,  has  become  such  a quantite  negli- 
geable . 

The  act  of  1870  was  a statesmanlike  compromise  between  the  denomi- 
national and  the  undenominational  parties  in  the  sphere  of  primary 
education.  What  we  need  today  is  a second  compromise  between  the 
two  schools  of  thought  in  the  sphere  of  secondary  education.  In  1896 
an  attempt  was  made  to  make  the  county  the  chief  local  authority.  It 


i6o 


NATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 


[General 


failed ; this  time  largely  thru  the  carelessness  with  which  the  bill  was 
conducted  in  Parliament,  and  also  from  the  jealousy  shown  by  the  small 
non-county  boroughs  toward  the  counties  in  which  they  were  situated. 
This  year  again  a bill  has  been  presented  which  proposed  once  more  to 
make  the  county  the  paramount  authority.  I understand  it  has  been 
withdrawn  owing  to  the  exigencies  of  the  parliamentary  session. 

And  yet  it  seems  to  me,  if  we  are  to  have  educational  unity  in 
England,  the  county  council  is  the  only  possible  authority  we  can  have 
for  local  purposes. 

But  before  stating  the  case  for  the  county  council,  let  us  first  consider 
the  other  alternative.  At  first  sight,  in  order  to  do  away  with  the  exist- 
ing rivalry,  it  might  seem  expedient  to  disfranchise  the  county  councils 
of  their  educational  rights,  disestablish  the  school  boards,  and  hand  over 
the  educational  duties  of  the  two  bodies  to  an  entirely  brand-new 
authority.  But  this  suggestion,  tho  possessing  all  the  special  attrac- 
tions of  symmetry  and  completeness,  would  arouse  the  most  prodigious 
opposition.  The  two  interested  parties  would  fight  it  tooth  and  nail. 
Localities  would  be  up  in  arms,  and  local  M.  P.s  would  voice  their  oppo- 
sition in  Parliament.  All  officials  under  the  existing  bodies  would  be 
dead  against  any  proposal  that  jeopardized  their  positions  and  salaries. 
It  would  be  actively  fought  by  that  small  but  growing  body  of  social 
reformers  who,  as  partisans  of  the  municipal  idea,  believe  that  politics  can 
be  made  real  to  the  man  in  the  street  only  by  consolidating  the  various 
functions  of  local  government  in  one  body  and  doing  away  with  the 
bewildering  multiplicity  of  elections.  And,  lastly,  such  a body  would  be 
certain  to  inherit  from  the  old  school  boards  the  spirit  of  religious 
wrangling  that  has  proved  such  a fruitful  source  of  hindrance  to  the 
cause  of  popular  education  in  England.  The  objections  to  the  school 
boards  being  made  the  one  authority  for  education  are  scarcely  less  for- 
midable. They  are  an  ad  hoc  body ; they  are  at  present  only  a makeshift 
form  of  organization  existing  in  only  two-thirds  of  the  country,  and 
catering  for  less  than  half  of  the  children,  the  majority  of  whom  are  in 
voluntary  schools  which  have  been  avowedly  built  and  maintained  to 
keep  out  the  school  board  on  religious  and  economic  grounds.  The 
attempt  to  make  the  school  boards  the  authority  for  such  a neutral  subject 
as  technical  education  failed  in  1889.  Their  chance,  therefore,  of  being 
made  the  secondary  authority,  now  that  the  technical-education  commit- 
tees of  the  county  councils  are  in  full  swing,  is  still  more  remote.  They 
have  but  few  friends  among  the  Tory  party,  and  even  supposing  the  Lib- 
eral party  came  back  to  power  with  a thumping  majority,  it  would  have 
the  whole  of  the  Irish  vote  cast  solid  against  it,  on  the  question  of  mak- 
ing school  boards  the  chief  authority,  as  the  Irish  desire  rate  aid  for 
Catholic  schools  in  the  north  of  England. 

There  remain,  therefore,  only  the  county  councils  and  the  county 


Sessions] 


EDUCATIONAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND 


161 


boroughs,  and  this  is  fortunately  no  Hobson’s  choice.  They  have,  indeed, 
much  to  recommend  them.  Their  areas  are  co-terminous  with  the  whole 
country  ; they  are  also  sufficiently  big  to  exclude  the  election  of  the  crank 
and  faddist,  and  secure  a certain  amount  of  ability  and  large-mindedness 
in  their  representatives.  They  have  already  acquired  administrative 
educational  experience  in  dealing  with  secondary  and  technical  education. 

In  the  counties  it  would  probably  be  advisable  to  abolish  at  once  the 
small  boards  which  have  little  to  recommend  them.  The  evicted  mem- 
bers ’might  be  reinstated  as  managers  in  order  that  what  administrative 
experience  they  have  might  be  preserved.  But  the  advent  of  county- 
council  administration  would  probably  mean  a rise  in  the  standard  of 
the  schools  and  greater  security  of  tenure  for  teachers.  The  principle 
of  popular  control  would  be  maintained  by  the  proviso  that  the  educa- 
tional committee  of  the  county  council  should  consist  of  a majority  of 
members  of  the  council,  while  the  educational  side  would  be  safeguarded 
by  the  election  or  co-operation  of  educational  experts  to  represent  the 
various  types  of  schools. 

The  county  councils  would  be  allowed  to  levy  an  educational  rate  over 
the  whole  country,  or  rather  merge  the  education  rate  in  the  county  rate. 
Being  the  authority  for  all  forms  of  education,  they  would  naturally  have  a 
right  to  inspect,  not  only  the  board  schools,  but  also  those  of  the  voluntary 
schools  which  wished  to  come  under  their  regime  to  qualify  for  efficiency. 
This  idea  of  subsidizing  the  voluntary  school  seems  a bitter  pill  to  some 
people.  But  it  appears  to  me  just  one  of  those  cases  where  the  stern 
logic  of  fact  is  superior  to  the  reasoning  on  mere  abstract  principles. 
Assuming  that  the  voluntary  schools  are,  as  their  adversaries  allege, 
inefficient,  have  we  a moral  right,  looking  at  the  question  from  the 
national  point  of  view,  to  allow  more  than  half  our  children  to  suffer 
under  permanent  educational  disadvantages  until  the  voluntary  schools 
are  starved  out  in  the  dim  and  distant  future?  Are  not  the  rights  of 
conscience  of  the  sectarian  equally  respectable  as  those  of  the  secularist 
in  the  eyes  of  the  state  ? We  have  spent  thirty  years  in  trying  to  ignore 
the  religious  question.  The  effect  has  been,  so  far,  such  a qualified  suc- 
cess that  we  have  not  as  yet  attracted  half  the  children  of  the  nation 
into  our  state  schools.  We  have  given  state  aid  to  the  extent  of  four- 
fifths  of  the  expenditure  in  the  denominational  schools,  and  have  received 
in  return  nothing  but  the  right  to  inspect  these  schools.  Why  should 
we  haggle  over  the  remaining  fifth,  if  we  can  purchase  with  it  a certain 
measure  of  popular  control  over  these  schools,  save  and  excepting  in  the 
presence  of  religious  teaching  ? Are  we  not  far  more  likely  to  raise  and 
widen  the  outlook  of  these  schools  by  inducing  them  to  come  under 
county-council  control  than  by  any  measures  that  smack  or  savor  of  per- 
secution ? We  want  to  find  points  of  contact  between  the  different  ideals 
that  divide  England ; we  do  not  want  to  set  them  in  harsh  opposition. 


162 


NATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 


[General 


In  the  towns,  the  school  boards  have  done  yeoman  service  in  the  cause 
of  popular  education.  Yet  it  is  obvious  we  cannot  allow  two  public 
bodies,  each  professing  to  do  the  same  kind  of  educational  work,  to 
remain  in  perpetual  competition  with  one  another.  From  the  national 
point  of  view  there  is  no  gain  whatever  from  such  a clumsy  and  expensive 
duplication.  It  can  mean  only  the  perpetuation  of  the  educational 
schism  which  has  hitherto  divided  the  nation.  To  leave  the  county  coun- 
cils with  only  the  control  of  the  present  grammar  school  is  to  narrow 
their  conception  of  what  secondary  education  really  means,  and  another 
ten  years  of  the  present  regime  may  make  them  into  partisans  despite 
themselves.  At  present,  both  in  theory  and  practice,  they  are  really  far 
more  democratic  than  the  existing  school  board.  They  are  elected  on 
the  ordinary  and  not  the  cumulative  franchise,  while  the  number  of  votes 
cast  at  the  borough-council  election  in  the  towns  is  always  much  larger 
than  that  cast  at  the  school-board  election.  Thus  in  London  at  the  last 
county-council  election  about  70  per  cent,  went  to  the  hall,  while  the  last 
school-board  election  barely  interested  20  per  cent,  of  the  electorate. 

Yet,  if  the  county  councils  are  to  absorb  the  school  boards  in  the 
town,  the  transference  must  be  very  carefully  and  gradually  made.  These 
latter  bodies  have  acquired  a wealth  of  administrative  and  educational 
experience  which  it  would  be  hard,  if  not  impossible,  to  replace  imme- 
diately. There  must  be  no  forced  liquidation,  but  they  must  be  taken 
over  as  going  concerns,  their  best  members  being  co-opted  at  once  on 
the  borough  council  education  committee,  in  order  that  the  break  in  con- 
tinuity may  be  as  little  as  possible. 

The  following  advantages,  from  the  national  point  of  view,  which 
would  result  from  the  adoption  of  the  county  council  as  the  one  local 
authority,  should  also  be  noted  : 

With  a single  authority  in  each  area,  controlling  all  forms  of  educa- 
tion, it  will  be  at  once  possible  to  detect  and  correct  overlapping,  and 
supplement  any  deficiencies  in  educational  supply.  Again,  the  needs  of 
each  locality  necessarily  vary.  The  single  authority,  more  or  less  supreme 
in  its  own  area,  will  be  able  readily  to  see  at  a glance  the  needs  of  its 
district  and  to  call  for  them  accordingly.  There  is  plenty  of  work  and 
more  than  enough  for  the  existing  type  of  schools.  What  is  wanted  is 
to  regulate  and  define  more  carefully  the  function  of  each  so  they  may 
be  as  readily  understood  by  t,he  people  as  they  are  in  France  or  Switzer- 
land. Half  the  want  of  interest  in  the  schools  which  exist  today  in  Eng- 
land is  due  to  the  impossibility  for  the  ordinary  man  to  make  out  what 
they  severally  stand  for.  People  cannot  be  enthusiastic  about  their 
schools  till  they  comprehend  their  exact  aims.  If  we  cannot  harness 
the  Niagara  of  national  interest  in  education  to  our  schools,  as  you  have 
done  in  America,  we  can  yet  do  a great  deal  in  the  way  of  deriving  power 
by  hitching  the  school  on  to  the  latent  forces  that  lie  at  the  back  of  local 
patriotism  in  England. 


Sessions] 


EDUCATIONAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND 


163 


Coming  now  to  the  question  of  the  central  authority,  it  is  enough  to 
say  that  primary  education  was  originally  under  the  education  depart- 
ment, which,  like  many  other  departments  of  state,  was  at  first  an  appanage 
of  the  privy  council.  The  latter  is  the  real  source  of  an  unexhausted 
executive  power  in  England,  and  may  be  compared  to  the  sun  in  its 
potentiality  to  throw  off  some  new  department  of  state  when  a new 
administrative  want  makes  itself  felt. 

Science  and  art  teaching,  which  dates  back  to  the  great  exhibition  of 
1851,  was  under  the  science  and  art  department,  which  was  later  on  made 
the  authority  for  technical  education.  The  endowed  schools  were  con- 
trolled by  the  charity  commission,  whose  oversight,  however,  was  mainly 
financial.  The  present  board  of  education  was  evolved  out  of  the  two 
above-named  departments,  with  power  to  take  over  certain  functions  from 
the  charity  commission.  The  new  office  was  divided  up  into  two  sec- 
tions, primary  and  secondary,  and  technological.  The  latter  section 
shows  sign  of  splitting  up  into  two  parts,  so  that  there  will  probably  in 
the  end  be  three  sections  in  the  office.  Hitherto,  owing  to  the  miser- 
able system  of  payment  by  results,  the  office  has  been  overwhelmed  by 
questions  of  detail  and  audit.  The  establishment  of  the  block  grant  may 
perhaps  set  it  free  to  study  the  admirable  collection  of  reports  which 
have  been  amassed  by  its  special  inquiries  section,  in  order  to  enable  it 
to  frame  general  principles  of  control.  It  has  also  been  furnished  with  a 
consultative  committee  of  experts;  these  no  doubt  should  serve  as  an 
admirable  go-between  in  their  dealings  with  the  schools  on  their  peda- 
gogical side ; but  what  they  really  most  require  at  the  present  time  is  an 
efficient  secondary  inspectorate  that  shall  serve,  not  only  as  the  mouth- 
piece, but  the  eyes  and  ears,  of  the  board.  Otherwise  they  will  be  like 
those  lay  figures  that  have  eyes,  but  see  not;  ears  have  they,  but  they  hear 
not.  Much,  again,  of  their  routine  work  should  be  delegated  to  the 
local  authorities. 

The  true  function  of  the  board  of  education  seems  to  be  something 
of  a mean  between  your  bureau  of  education  and  the  strong  centralized 
ministry  of  public  instruction  in  France.  I cannot  define  this  function? 
in  better  words  than  those  of  our  greatest  writer  on  education,  Mr. 
Michael  Sadler.  He  is  speaking  of  the  part  of  the  state  in  national 
education,  and,  after  dismissing  the  individualist  idea  that  the  state 
should  have  no  part  in  national  education,  and  rejecting  Adam  Smith’s 
opinion  that  it  should  provide  only  primary  schools,  and  Mills’  view 
that  it  should  establish  a system  of  schools  of  its  own  among  other  com- 
peting systems,  he  goes  on  to  lay  down  that  the  state  should  rather  draw 
toward  itself,  inspire,  stimulate,  and  (when  needful)  aid  each  and  every 
type  and  instance  of  efficient  and  needed  schools,  while  absorbing,  con- 
trolling, crushing  none;  aiming,  not  at  monopoly,  but  at  a compre- 
hensive federation  of  schools  and  colleges ; at  strengthening  educational 


164 


NATIONAL  EDUCATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 


[General 


freedom,  not  at  any  restriction  of  it;  at  self-criticism,  not  at  the  dis- 
couragement of  criticism ; at  the  planning  and  record  of  careful  and 
systematic  experiments ; at  the  very  liberal  encouragement  of  educa- 
tional, psychological,  and  hygienic  research  of  all  kinds,  in  all  types  of 
schools,  and  those  not  in  England  alone;  at  the  wide  diffusion  among  all 
concerned  of  the  accurate,  but  varied  and  outspoken,  observations  thus 
secured,  with  a view  to  the  development  and  guidance  of  a well-informed 
and  skillfully  observant  public  and  professional  opinion. 

Such  seems  to  me  to  be  the  present  position  of  English  education 
and  its  principal  shortcomings ; and,  in  speaking  so  plainly  of  our  failings, 
I do  not.  wish  you  to  imagine  for  a moment  there  is  little  to  be  said  in 
praise  of  English  education.  My  abstention  was  rather  intentional, 
because  it  seemed  to  me  scarcely  the  place  to  say  it;  and  yet,  as  one 
reared  in  the  traditions  of  our  English  public  schools,  who  has  breathed 
their  subtle  atmosphere,  as  strong  and ' life-giving  in  its  way  as  that  of 
your  American  schools ; who  later  on,  as  a teacher,  has  attempted  to 
maintain  and  spread  their  high-soaring  and  deep-rooted  traditions,  I feel 
it  is  only  fair  tonight  to  express  in  public  my  eternal  gratitude  toward 
those  public  institutions  which  instilled  into  me,  unforward  scholar  that 
I was,  some  scanty  sense  of  the  high  ideals  of  patriotism  ; of  esprit  de  corps 
and  of  serving  the  state,  of  noblesse  oblige  and  the  non-existence  of  rights 
unaccompanied  by  duties ; of  the  virtue  of  self-control ; of  the  spirit  of 
never-say-die ; of  the  belief  in  fair  play  and  other  national  qualities 
which  belong  pre-eminently  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  And  if  I also  look 
on  France  as  a sort  of  foster-mother  who,  taking  me  late  in  life,  deepened 
my  ideas  of  culture  and  philosophy,  it  is  because  she  gave  rite  thereby  a 
sort  of  intellectuelle  Anschauung  into  the  r)6os  of  English  public-school  life, 
and  helped  me  better  to  understand  myself  and  my  great  debt  to  these 
ancient  and  religious  foundations.  I might  also  point  with  pride  to  the 
work  of  the  great  school  boards,  like  those  of  Leeds  and  London,  to  show 
what  thirty  years  of  popular  effort  have  done  for  the  working  classes,  or 
extol  the  energy  of  the  technical-education  board  for  London,  which  in 
ten  years  has  literally  created  the  present  network  of  technical  educa- 
tion out  of  nothing. 

But  my  object  is  not  to  praise  or  blame  our  national  education,  but  to 
render  it  intelligible.  I greatly  fear,  however,  I have  not  infrequently 
been  obscure,  owing  to  the  lack  of  time  to  set  forth  each  proposition  and 
idea  in  its  due  light  and  proportion.  If  I have  failed,  I shall  at  least  have 
had  the  melancholy  satisfaction  of  making  you  realize  the  extraordinary 
complexity  of  the  problem  by  explaining  the  obscureness  per  obscureness. 

There  are,  however,  two  ideas  which  I would  wish  you  to  carry  away 
with  you.  One,  that  a trim  and  geometrical  system  of  education  is 
probably  impossible  in  England,  not  because  of  the  stupidity  or  indif- 
ference of  the  English  people,  but  because  of  the  diversity  that  exists  in 


Sessions] 


EDUCATIONAL  CRISIS  IN  ENGLAND 


165 

the  national  character,  and  the  extraordinary  sensitiveness  of  the  English 
people  to  fundamentals,  about  which  they  rarely  argue,  but  which,  as  the 
suppressed  premise,  give  weight  and  direction  to  their  arguments.  I 
think  no  nation  feels  more  deeply,  or  experiences  greater  difficulty  in 
putting  its  feelings  into  words.  I fancy  at  times  it  even  half-consciously 
shrinks  from  doing  so. 

The  second  is  that  any  satisfactory  settlement  of  the  education  ques- 
tion, or  even  temporary  modus  vivendi , must  recognize  this  diversity  in 
the  national  character  and  give  fair  play  to  the  various  sets  of  opposing 
tendencies  which  are  not  always  symmetrically  ranged  under  one  banner 
or  party,  yet  are  ever  carrying  on  a perpetual  duel  in  England,  as  pre- 
figured by  the  battle  between  freedom  and  authority,  between  the  spirit 
of  inquiry  and  that  of  obedience,  between  individual  liberty  and  state 
control,  between  private  effort  and  corporate  life,  between  the  ethical  and 
- the  intellectual  conceptions  of  education. 

This  English  duality,  which  Emerson  himself  has  remarked  upon, 
makes  us  appear  at  times  strangely  undecided,  irresolute,  illogical,  and 
cross-grained  ; but  there  are  moments  when,  as  Pascal  says,  the  heart  has 
reasons,  the  head  knows  not. 

Yet  I do  not  wish  to  imply  that  we  should  be  forever  halting  between 
two  opinions,  and  that  there  are  not  occasions  when  we  must  make  up 
our  minds  to  take  a decided  step.  No  one  is  more  convinced  than 
myself  at  the  present  time  that  we  have  need  of  overhauling  the  ship  of 
state  and  putting  her  into  a better  state  'of  repair,  making  jettison  of 
certain  of  the  laissez-faire  notions  with  which  we  are  encumbered  and 
taking  in  a fresh  consignment  of  state  control.  I only  ask  you  to  judge 
us  gently.  Our  responsibilities  are  indeed  great,  yet  I have  no  doubt 
whatever,  once  we  have  truly  realized  them,  we  shall  prove  fully  equal  to 
the  task.  For  my  part  I cannot  entertain  the  idea  that  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  whether  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  or  the  other,  can  ever  go  under. 


